Moment of Reflection

It's been 9 months since we left our home behind and hit the road.  In that time, I've learned so much about myself, Aaron and our relationship.  It hasn't always been easy, but it's been totally worth it.  We've trekked through rainforests in Costa Rica, taken a tour of Machu Picchu, seen glaciers in Patagonia, witnessed a prayer in The Sistine Chapel, celebrated Bastille Day in Paris, island-hopped in Greece, ate bugs in Bangkok and sweat all over Angkor Wat.  At this point, we've done so much in a relatively short period of time that it's hard to keep track of it all.  Travelling has been life-changing for us.  It's something we have grown to love and will definitely continue to do throughout our lives (in shorter stretches, of course).

This is the longest either of us has ever been away from home and it's daunting to know we're not going to see our loved ones for so long.  Normal, every day events are a rarity, but we make an effort to do things we would do at home, such as: cook dinner, watch TV and go to the movies.  I've forgotten what it's like to drive my car, to BBQ at our house, to wake up for work and to take the dogs to the park.  I've learned that these simple, seemingly mundane chores are some of the things I miss the most, as they make me feel connected to a sense of normalcy and give my life purpose.

Like I said, travelling with your partner (especially for long periods) is extremely difficult.  No matter where we go, all we really have is each other and that kind of dependence is something most people in relationships never really face.  Being together all the time, just the two of us, makes it easy to take each other for granted and become easily annoyed.  Neither of us have things that are just our own.  It really makes you appreciate having a job and friends to break up the monotony of being together ALL the time.  It took us awhile to find our groove, but now that we have we're stronger than ever.  If you can get through that initial phase where you're figuring out where and how you fit and finding a way to co-exist in this new, much smaller bubble, it's really empowering.  It's definitely not easy.  There are times I was sure we wouldn't make it.  There are times I was sure I would stab him in the eye with a fork.  However, knowing that I have someone on my side that's experiencing the world with me wholeheartedly is not only comforting, but it makes me feel fearless.  At this point, I can honestly say home is wherever he is.  Whether we're on a plane, backpacking or living in an apartment in Barcelona, I can sleep safe and sound knowing he's with me.  

I've learned I need much less to live happily.  All the possessions I've used in the past 9 months fit into a small suitcase and a backpack.  I've never had so few clothes and cared so little.  Yea, sometimes I wish I had more variety, but I'm able to get dressed in under a minute with very little thought/effort.  It's hugely freeing to know you can live with WAY less.  Of course, I'll always like clothes, accessories and shopping, but knowing I'm not a slave to it is extremely cool.  I can wear the same 5 outfits and it doesn't really affect my life in any way.  I get to see the world and not break my back or my bank, so who cares what I'm wearing?

I think we've both learned how to handle stress, heat, exhaustion, irritation, fear, anger and pain much better than ever before.  Aaron and I both have tempers and are stubborn, but have been able to handle situations with much more poise (or at least get over the debilitating anger much faster).  Travelling pushes every button you have, almost like a dare, and it's do or die.  Either you cope and move forward or you rip all your hair out and are miserable (trust me, I've got a few bald spots, but I'm getting better!).  Mix extreme heat with total exhaustion and add flight delays and language barriers and you've got an explosion coming your way.  Patience is key, although way easier said than done.  I've been practicing keeping my mouth shut (way hard, right ladies??) and smiling through the irritation.  Killing them with kindness is real and it works way better than a scowl in my experience.
I've pushed myself way past my level of comfort on many occasions and have discovered that I'm capable of much more than I ever gave myself credit for.  It's an extremely liberating feeling to push yourself to the limit and see yourself bend, but not break.

Seeing the world has been the most challenging, yet rewarding thing I've ever done in my life.  It's something I'll never regret, no matter what happens and I'll always look back and think "Wow.  What a whirlwind."  I've made a few lifelong friends, I've eaten food I can't wait to try to replicate when I get home and I've got more pictures than you could see in a day.  The world is a scary place, especially right now, but I hope that never stops people from seeing it.  It's never easy and there's always a tiny element of danger, just wandering into the unknown, but it's so nourishing to the soul.
The number one thing I've learned is that money and time are best spent on experiences, not stuff.  Sure, I want that brand new iPhone or that giant flat screen, but studies show that the joy you get from purchases quickly fades.  However, the joy you get from experience never does.  You'll always have those memories and can look over at your love and say "Remember when we swam in the rain in Thailand?"  I can still feel the drops on my face.

Ho Chi Minh City: Day 2

Day 2 of Ho Chi Minh City was our big sightseeing day.  We hit all the highlights (at least according to me) and are pretty proud of ourselves (especially since it's so hot out-just had to make sure I mentioned that at least once).

First stop: Brunch!  We were ready for some pho, so we went to this random, hole-in-the-wall noodle shop:

I ordered pho with pork and Aaron ordered pho with chicken.  For those of you who don't know, pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup with broth, noodles, meat and herbs.  With the pho, you get this plate of goodies to add to your soup, if you so desire:

There's lime, chilies, basil and some other greens.  They also provide chili sauce and fish sauce.  Aaron added the lime and I added some basil.  Here's our pho:

Insanely good!  The broth was tangy and had a really deep flavor and the pork I had was amazing.  Altogether this meal was less than $7 (including a fresh pineapple juice and water).  Not too shabby!

We walked back to the night market area and I got some day shots of the financial tower and the roundabout:

I've mentioned before how there are motorbikes everywhere!  And it seems like there are no rules, you can drive on either side of the road, or even on the sidewalk.  It's nuts.  

For pedestrians it's even more nuts.  Yes, there are crosswalks marked in the street and yes there are SOME lights telling you when to cross, but at the end of the day, you have to just weave through the traffic.  You literally have to walk (run) into oncoming traffic and bob and weave your way across, it's no joke!  Everyone does it and it's the only way to get across because cars and bikes never stop coming.  We're kinda getting used to it because for the most part they'll drive around you, but it's still pretty scary, especially at night.  Aaron took a video.

Here's the map we used and all the stops we took, in order:

Stop #1: Independence Palace

We just walked by because it was on the way to other stuff.  From the street, it didn't look like much:

We have been wanting to try fresh coconut water, so we ran into this guy:

It was honestly kinda gross:

This is my new dress I got at the night market the night before.  Super comfy and cute and only $6.

FYI: this is how people eat around here:

Just on the street at plastic kiddie tables.  This is how they do street food.  We never did this because after walking and being outside all day, our only comfort is indoor fans while eating.  Especially since we're eating hot foods like pho.  I can't imagine being in super humid weather eating hot soup.  Craziness!

We kept walking until we got to Stop #2: Jade Emperor Pagoda

It was technically closed (lots of sights close for lunch), but the guard let us walk the grounds.

The Jade Pagoda is a multi-faith temple and is supposed to be really cool inside, but we didn't get to go inside.  Oh well.

There's a separate staircase for women and men:

At the top:

I peeked in the window:

Nice!

Aaron took a video

We were a little overheated from walking, so we took a short break (not to mention the museum we were going to was still closed for lunch):

It's a San Francisco ice cram parlor all the way in South Vietnam!

Totally rejuvenating.

Next stop: War Remnants Museum

This was our main attraction.  It's all about The Vietnam War and although we knew it would be hard to see, we felt like while we were here we should see it.  

Now, a couple things to note: 

First off, this place is pretty one-sided, and we don't come off smelling like roses.  However, I've read that a lot of the most brutal pictures of torture by The U.S. were contributed BY THE U.S., so we kinda had our say.

Second, many of the pictures are really graphic.  It really elicits the absolute horrors of war and doesn't shy away from the most brutal atrocities.  If you're squeamish, you might want to skip this part.

Okay, let's do it:

They give you these stickers to wear:

Our first ones blew away while I was trying to take a picture and we had to fight tooth and nail to get a couple more.  OMG this ticket lady was NOT trying to give them up, thinking we were trying to take extra or something.  Who cares??  I only wanted them because I figured that's how they recognize who paid.

Anyway, we're in and they have all these old planes and tanks out front.

Aaron's detailed video

More video

After exploring the front, we went into a neighboring exhibit:

This exhibit detailed the different prisons where The Vietnamese were kept, tortured and murdered.  It's pretty brutal.

The guillotine seems like one of the more humane ways to go compared to what you're about to see.

Tiger cages:

People were kept in these low, small cages and could not lay down or sit up, so they had to stoop uncomfortably.  Unbearable.

Iron grill:

Prisoners were stripped and forced to roll over these iron grills and the little hooks in the grill would tear their skin and pull their hair until they bled.

Example of a prison:

Haunting.

The cells were called ovens because they were so stuffy and the women would have to take turns standing by the door for air:

More cages:

Horrendous torture:

Different sticks used for beatings:

Interesting:

There were actually a lot more pictures that I didn't post.  It was an extremely sad, scary place.

Aaron's video

Now we're inside.  There are 3 floors and you're supposed to start at the top and work your way back down, which I thought was weird because no one really tells you what to do (there's a random map on a random wall), so everyone starts walking around at the bottom until they realize they're going backwards.  Stupid layout.

I got a pamphlet and here are the different rooms:

I took a lot of pictures in #1: Historical Truths, but it was mostly just pictures and writing about all the details of the war from start to finish.  I figure if you're interested you can google Vietnam War.  It was definitely eye-opening, to say the least.  I did think this was really interesting:

Crazy!

Room 2 was really neat.  It was called Requiem:

Here's what it's about:

It was compiled by renowned war photographer Tim Page and it shows the works of those photographers and journalists from around the world that were killed while covering the war.

I suck at taking pictures of glass (I really need someone to show me how to use my camera!), so bear with me (I'm in the glare of like every picture).

List of all the photographers/journalists killed while reporting on the war:

The exhibits are really extensive and I took a ton of pictures, but I'm only posting a fraction of them because it's kind of one of those museums you can only truly appreciate by being there.  

Next up: 

Lots of weapons and some disturbing images:

This is actually a famous photo.  It won many awards, including The Pulitzer Prize:

Facts about the war:

Casualties of land mines and bombs:

This just happened 12 years ago!  People are still stepping on land mines:

Next room:

Are you ready?  This gets pretty bad.

That Agent Orange is absolutely atrocious!  

The bottom floor was about how we repaired our relationship with Vietnam and we're all friends again and how other countries support Vietnam and how they rebuilt everything.  We kinda glossed over that section because we had been there for 3 hours and were ready to be done.

Aaron left his mark:

I kept mine.  So, overall it was a really heavy place.  Lots of intense images and stories.  War is just not worth it, that's the message I took away.  Hopefully, we (as a world) don't end up repeating our mistakes.

We continued walking, seeing random stuff along the way (I told you, walking is the best way to explore a city):

until we got to The Notre Dame Cathedral.

Yup, you heard me.  It's named after the French Notre Dame because Vietnam was occupied by France a long time ago and they had it build (entirely of French materials btw).  Although nowhere near as exquisite as the French version, still pretty spectacular.

video

Stunning.

Bells!

From across the street

We then walked across the street to The Central Post Office:

Yup, you heard me right again.  This is the post office.  It was built by Gustave Eiffel (Eiffel Tower guy) and it's a legit post office, as well as huge tourist destination:

They had these really neat maps on the walls:

I wonder what time it is in California:

Tour of The Post Office

We walked down a few blocks and got to this long strip of concrete in between two huge roadways.  It was like a random park with the statue of former President Ho Chi Minh:

He's the one who's face is on all the money (and obviously the city is named after him).

Video

Behind it is The People's Committee Hall:

 We passed this too:

They have some impressive buildings here.

Opera House:

We walked down all the way to the end of the concrete park:

Across the street is The Saigon River:

We were able to watch the sun start to set.  Magic.

Looks like a courthouse maybe?

Bitexco Financial Building again (helipad side):

We were pretty much done with sightseeing at this point.  We were covered in sweat and my sandals were cutting into my feet.  We walked back a bit to find a place to rest and eat.  Saw this at a cake shop:

and ran into this outdoor market:

Yum!

 We finally found this restaurant and the food was incredible (but pricey):

Yup, he really did pass out waiting for his dinner.  Poor baby.

He got a meatball sub, which he was obsessed with:

and I got bun (a noodle dish with meat, veggies and usually some type of egg roll (this one didn't have the egg rolls)):

I got pork and shrimp and it was fantastic!

We tried to find a cab home, but for some reason were unsuccessful (usually they're everywhere!), so we walked:

We got back to the hostel around 7pm, showered and put the same clothes back on (I know we're gross hippies) and joined a pub crawl:

It was $1 for girls and $5 for guys and you get free shots and a hat!

We met the coolest guy from So-Cal named Adrian:

No idea who that chick is.  Really fun night!

The next day was a relax day and since we had done all the sightseeing we needed to do the day before (we're total badasses), we were okay to just lounge around.  My dawgs are tired!

Today we woke up early (6:30am) and caught a flight back to Bangkok and after a 4 hour wait, caught another flight back to Phuket.  We got some yummy food at the airport.  I had roasted duck with rice and soup:

and a couple BBQ pork buns:

Okay, the buns were not great.  Dry and old.  Eww.

Aaron went to McDonald's (of course) and got a Snoopy black burger:

Black bun!!  Looks so weird, but tasted totally normal.

I'm so happy to be back at our apartment, I can't even tell you!  Aaron went out and got us a ton of street food for dinner:

OMG the fried chicken here is so good!

Overall, super long travel day (12 hours!), but getting a taste of Cambodia and Vietnam was so worth it.  Each country has strong similarities on the surface, but also huge differences that somehow make it completely unique.  It's been super fun exploring a little more of Southeast Asia!